System and method for chart based order entry

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for chart-based order entry are described. According to one example method a chart is used to display historical market data corresponding to a tradable object. An order entry interface is displayed in relation to the chart. The order entry interface includes a plurality of price objects for selecting price levels to be used for trade orders to buy or sell the tradable object. According to one example method, the price levels corresponding to the price objects depend on a location of the interface in relation to the chart, and as the interface is moved in relation to the chart, the price levels are automatically updated. Upon selection of the price level on the interface, a trade order to buy or sell is submitted to a matching engine at an electronic exchange.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/084,782 filed Nov. 20, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,646,344,which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/218,162filed Aug. 25, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,620,794, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/546,451 filed Aug.24, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,027,908, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/693,219 filed Mar. 29, 2007, now U.S.Pat. No. 7,580,883, the contents of all of which are fully incorporatedherein by reference for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention is directed towards electronic trading. Morespecifically, the present invention is directed to tools for chart-basedorder entry in an electronic trading environment.

BACKGROUND

Electronic trading is generally based on a host exchange, one or morecomputer networks, and client devices. Subscribing traders are connectedto an exchange's electronic trading platform by way of communicationlinks and through an application program interface to facilitatereal-time electronic messaging between themselves and the exchanges. Theelectronic trading platform includes at least one electronic market,which is at the center of the trading system and handles the matching ofbids and offers placed by the traders for that market. The electronicmessaging includes market information that is distributed from theelectronic market to the traders via an electronic data feed. Once thetraders receive the market information, it may be displayed to them ontheir trading screens. Upon viewing the information, traders can takecertain actions including the actions of sending buy or sell orders tothe electronic market, adjusting existing orders, deleting orders, orotherwise managing orders. Traders may also use software tools on theirclient devices to automate these and additional actions.

Although the types of market information published by an electronicexchange may differ from market to market, there are generally somestandard pieces of information. Market information may include data thatrepresents just the inside market. The inside market is the lowestavailable ask price (best ask) and the highest available bid price (bestbid) in the market for a particular tradable object at a particularpoint in time. Market information may also include market depth. Marketdepth refers to quantities available at the inside market and may alsorefer to quantities available at other prices away from the insidemarket. The quantity available at a given price level is usuallyprovided by the exchange in aggregate sums. In other words, an exchangeusually provides the total buy quantity and the total sell quantityavailable in the market at a particular price level in its data feed. Inaddition to providing order book information, such as price and quantityinformation, electronic exchanges can offer other types of marketinformation such as the open price, settlement price, net change,volume, last traded price, the last traded quantity, and order fillinformation.

The extent of market depth available for a trader usually depends on theexchange. For instance, some exchanges provide market depth for all (ormost) price levels, and others may provide no market depth at all.Electronic exchanges may also limit the market depth offered as marketinformation can become intensive for network and client devices toprocess. For instance, an electronic market might offer only five levelsof market depth, which includes the quantities available at the currenttop five buy prices and the quantities available at the current top fivesell prices.

To profit in electronic markets, market participants must be able toassimilate large amounts of data to recognize market trends and to viewcurrent market conditions. Traders often use charts to analyze andpredict market movements. Many traders enter trade orders to buy or sella tradable object via a chart. There are existing order entry systemsthat allow a trader to select a desired price level for a trade order onthe chart. However, the existing chart order entry methods suffer fromaccuracy problems as one pixel on the chart may represent a single ormultiple price levels, accurately selecting a desired price level may beimpossible due to the human error and limitations of currently availableuser input devices. Thus, it is desirable to provide a fast and moreaccurate order entry on a chart.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Example embodiments are described herein with reference to the followingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example electronic trading system in which aclient terminal and a gateway are located on a local area network;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example electronic trading system in which aclient terminal is located remote from a gateway;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a client terminal with a numberof layers defining different stages that may be used to implementembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating one example embodiment of anorder entry interface for use in relation to a chart;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating another configuration of an orderentry interface for use in relation to a chart;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example order entry interfaceincorporating a quantity selection interface;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example order entry interfaceincorporating a view of market data corresponding to a tradable object;and

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating yet another example order entryinterface that displays current market conditions according to anotherarrangement.

SUMMARY

An example system and methods for chart based order entry are provided.According to one example method, historical market data corresponding toa tradable object is displayed via a chart, with the historical marketdata being updated as new market data corresponding to the tradableobject is received from an electronic exchange so that the chartdisplays the historical market data as well as the current market data.An order entry interface is also displayed in relation to the chart. Theorder entry interface includes a plurality of price objectscorresponding to a plurality of price levels. According to the exampleembodiment, the plurality of price levels that correspond to priceobjects are set based on a location of the order entry interface inrelation to the chart. As a user moves the order entry interface inrelation to the chart, the price levels also change to correspond to anew set of prices. For example, upon activating the order entryinterface, a cursor corresponding to a user input device may bedisplayed at the center of the order entry interface, and the locationof the cursor may determine the price levels associated with the priceobjects. According to one example embodiment, the order entry interfaceis divided into a bid side and an ask side having price objectscorresponding to the same set of prices. When a user wishes to send atrade order for the tradable object, the user may select a desired priceeither on the buy side or the ask side to effectively send a buy tradeorder or a sell trade order to a matching engine at an electronicexchange.

Other features of the present invention will become more apparent topersons having ordinary skill in the art to which the present inventionpertains from the following description and claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

I. A First Example Trading System

FIG. 1 illustrates an example electronic trading system 100 in which theexample embodiments may be employed. The example system 100 comprisestrading stations 102A and 102B that access an electronic exchange 108through a gateway 106. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the trading stations102A-B and the gateway 106 are located within a local LAN 104. While notshown, a router could be used to route messages between the gateway 106and the electronic exchange 108. The electronic exchange 108 includes acomputer process (e.g., the central computer) that matches buy and sellorders sent from the trading stations 102A-B with orders from othertrading stations (not shown). The electronic exchange 108 lists one ormore tradable objects for trading. While not shown in FIG. 1 for thesake of clarity, the trading system may include other devices that arespecific to the client site like middleware and security measures likefirewalls, hubs, security managers, and so on, as understood by personsskilled in the art.

Regardless of the types of order execution algorithms used, theelectronic exchange 108 provides market information to the subscribingtrading stations 102A-B. Market information may include data thatrepresents just the inside market. The inside market is the lowest sellprice (best ask) and the highest buy price (best bid) at a particularpoint in time. Market information may also include market depth.Additionally, the exchange 108 can offer other types of marketinformation such as the last traded price (LTP), the last tradedquantity (LTQ), and order fill information.

The computer employed as the trading stations 102A-B generally can rangefrom a hand-held device, laptop, or personal computer to a largercomputer such as a workstation and multiprocessor. An illustrativepersonal computer may use Pentium™ microprocessors and may operate undera Windows operating system, or yet may use some other microprocessor oroperating system. Generally, each of the trading stations 102A-Bincludes a monitor (or any other output device) and one or more inputdevices, such as a keyboard and/or a two or three-button mouse tosupport click based trading, if so desired. One skilled in the art ofcomputer systems will understand that the present example embodimentsare not limited to any particular class or model of computer employedfor the trading stations 102A-B and will be able to select anappropriate system.

In one example embodiment, the trading stations 102A-B use software tocreate specialized interactive trading screens on terminals associatedwith them. Trading screens preferably enable traders to, among otherthings, enter and execute orders, obtain market quotes, and monitorpositions. The range and quality of features available to the trader onhis or her trading screen may vary according to the specific softwareapplication being run. In addition to or in place of the interactivetrading screens, a trading station could run automated types of tradingapplications.

One type of trading screen that if often used at trading stations isprovided by a commercially available trading application referred to asX_TRADER® from Trading Technologies International, Inc. of Chicago, Ill.X_TRADER® also provides an electronic trading interface, referred to asMD Trader™, in which working orders and/or bid and ask quantities aredisplayed in association with a static price axis or scale.

Portions of the X_TRADER® and the MD Trader™-style display are describedin U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,132, entitled “Click Based Trading With IntuitiveGrid Display of Market Depth,” filed on Jun. 9, 2000; U.S. Pat. No.6,938,011, entitled “Click Based Trading with Market Depth Display”filed on Jun. 9, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,424 entitled “Click BasedTrading With Intuitive Grid Display of Market Depth and PriceConsolidation,” filed on Oct. 5, 2001; U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/125,894, entitled “Trading Tools For Electronic Trading,” filed onApr. 19, 2002, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/376,417, entitled“A System and Method for Trading and Displaying Market Information in anElectronic Trading Environment,” filed on Feb. 28, 2003, the contents ofeach are incorporated herein by reference. Additionally, the preferredembodiments are not limited to any particular product that performstranslation, storage, and display function.

The computer employed as the gateway 106 generally can range from apersonal computer to a larger or faster computer. An illustrativegateway computer may use Pentium™ microprocessors and may operate undera Windows (server or workstation) operating system, or yet some othersystem. Generally, the gateway 106 may additionally include a monitor(or any other output device), input device, and access to a database, ifso desired. One skilled in the art of computer systems will alsounderstand that the present example embodiments are not limited to anyparticular class or model of computer(s) employed for the gateway 106and will be able to select an appropriate system.

It should be noted that a computer system employed here as a tradingstation or a gateway generally includes a central processing unit, amemory (a primary and/or secondary memory unit), an input interface forreceiving data from a communications network, an input interface forreceiving input signals from one or more input devices (for example, akeyboard, mouse, etc.), and an output interface for communications withan output device (for example, a monitor). A system bus or an equivalentsystem may provide communications between these various elements.

Memory on either the gateway 106 or the trading station 102 may includea computer readable medium. The term computer readable medium, as usedherein, refers to any medium that participates in providing instructionsto a processor unit for execution. Such a medium may take many forms,including but not limited to, non-volatile media, and transmissionmedia. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical or magneticdisks, such as storage devices. Volatile media include, for example,dynamic memory, such as main memory or random access memory (“RAM”).Common forms of computer readable media include, for example, floppydisks, flexible disks, hard disks, magnetic tape, punch cards, CD-ROM,any other physical medium, memory chip or cartridge, or any other mediumfrom which a computer can read.

It should also be noted that the trading stations 102A-B generallyexecute application programs resident at the trading stations 102A-Bunder the control of the operating system of the trading station. Also,the gateway 106 executes application programs resident at the gateway106 under the control of the operating system of the gateway 106. Inother embodiments and as understood by a person skilled in the art, thefunction of the application programs at the trading stations 102A-B maybe performed by the gateway 106, and likewise, the function of theapplication programs at the gateway 106 may be performed by the tradingstations 102A-B.

The actual electronic trading system configurations are numerous, and aperson skilled in the art of electronic trading systems would be able toconstruct a suitable network configuration. For the purposes ofillustration, some example configurations are provided to illustratewhere the elements may be physically located and how they might beconnected to form an electronic trading system. These illustrations aremeant to be helpful to the reader, and they are not meant to belimiting. According to one example illustration, the gateway device maybe located at the client site along with the trading station, which isusually remote from the matching process at the electronic exchange.Alternatively, no gateway is used at all.

According to the illustrated embodiment, the trading stations 102A-B,the gateway 106, and any routers communicate over the LAN 104, and thegateway 106 may communicate with the matching process at the electronicexchange 108 over a T1, T3, ISDN, or some other high speed connection.In another example illustration, the client site may be located on theactual grounds of the electronic exchange (for example, in the buildingof the exchange). According to this instance, the trading station andthe gateway may still communicate over a LAN, but if any routers areused, they may communicate with the matching process at the electronicexchange through another connection means besides a T1, T3, or ISDN. Inyet another example illustration, the gateway may be housed at, or near,its corresponding electronic exchange. According to this instance, thetrading station may communicate with the gateway over a wide areanetwork or through the use of a T1, T3, ISDN, or some other high speedconnection.

While a single exchange is shown in FIG. 1, it should be understood thata trader may obtain access and trade at multiple electronic exchanges.In such an embodiment, a client terminal could access multiple exchangesthrough multiple gateways, with each gateway designated for a specificexchange. Alternatively, a single gateway may be programmed to handlemore than one electronic exchange.

It could be very valuable to provide a trader with the opportunity totrade tradable objects listed at different electronic exchanges. Forexample, a trader could view market information from each tradableobject through one common visual display. As such, price and quantityinformation from the two separate exchanges may be presented together sothat the trader can view both markets simultaneously in the same window.In another example, a trader can spread-trade different tradable objectslisted at the different electronic exchanges.

II. A Second Example Trading System

The second method that is often used to connect network segments in anelectronic trading environment is a remote connection. FIG. 2illustrates an example electronic trading system 200 in which a tradingstation is located remote from a gateway. The example system 200comprises a remote trading station 202, a remote host 204, a gateway206, and an exchange 208. A trader connecting in a remote mode connectsto the remote host 204 located at a site that hosts the gateway 206 viathe Internet or through a direct connection. Example connections betweenthe remote trading station 202 and the remote host include an ISDN,cable, DSL, or a least line connection. The remote host 204 and thegateway 206 may communicate via a LAN.

In the remote mode of operation, the remote trading station initiates aconnection to the remote host 204 by establishing a Transmission ControlProtocol (“TCP”) session. It should be understood that differentprotocols could be used as well. When data arrives at the remote host204 from the gateway 206, the remote host 204 sends it to the clientterminal 202 via the established TCP connection.

While two example trading systems have been described above, it shouldbe understood that different network connection are possible as well,and the example embodiments are not limited to the described systems.For example, another example trading system could be configured to useWide Area Networks (WAN) and WAN routers. One skilled in the art ofelectronic trading systems will understand that the present embodimentsare not limited to the particular configurations illustrated anddescribed with respect to FIGS. 1-2, and will be able to design aparticular system based on the specific requirements (for example, byadding additional exchanges, gateways, trading stations, routers, orother computers serving various functions like message handling andsecurity). Additionally, several networks, like either of the networksshown in FIGS. 1-2, may be linked together to access one or moreelectronic exchanges.

III. Example System Functions

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a client terminal 300 with anumber of layers defining different stages that may be used to implementembodiments of the present invention. The layers include a chartingapplication 302, a chart-based order entry application 304, an operatingsystem 306, and an application programming interface (“API”) 308. Theclient terminal 300 also preferably includes, among other things, atleast a processor and memory (both of which are not shown in figure, butare well known computer components). Preferably, the processor hasenough processing power to handle and process various types of marketinformation. Therefore, the more market information is received andprocessed, the more processing power is preferred. However, any presentday processor has enough processing power to handle and process varioustypes of market information. Also, it should be understood that memorymay include any computer readable medium. The term computer readablemedium, as used herein, refers to any medium that participates inproviding instructions to a processor unit for execution.

Preferably, the charting application 302 has access to market data fromone or more host electronic exchanges through an interface such as theAPI 308. When the charting application 302 receives market data from thehost exchange 310, it arranges and displays the received data on a chartthat a trader may view on a visual output display device 312. Exampledisplay devices include CRT-based video displays, LCD-based displays,gas plasma-panel displays, displays that show three-dimensional images,different display types, or the combination thereof.

The chart-based order entry application 304 allows for order entry via achart, as will be explained in greater detail below. In short, thechart-based order entry application 304 generates an order entryinterface to be displayed in relation to a chart. According to oneexample embodiment, the order entry interface takes a format similar toa pie chart interface with a plurality of objects or slices of the piechart interface dynamically displaying a set of market price levelsdetermined based on the position of the pie chart interface in relationto the chart. As will be described in greater detail below, a user mayselect one of the prices displayed in relation to the pie chartinterface to effectively set a price for a trade order to buy or sell atradable object and to send the trade order to an electronic exchange.

The chart-based order entry application 304 interacts with a tradingapplication, such as X_TRADER® referenced above, so that when an orderis entered using the chart-based order entry methods, the order may besent to an electronic exchange by the trading application. It should beunderstood that, according to one example embodiment, the chart-basedorder entry application 304 could be an internal module of any tradingapplication. Alternatively, the chart-based order entry interface 304may be programmed so that there is no need to interact with any tradingapplications.

The charting application 302 and the chart-based order entry application304 receive input signals from a trader via input devices 314. Exampleinput devices include a mouse, a keyboard, a game pad, or a stylus inthe systems using touch-screen display devices. However, different inputdevices or a combination of input devices could also be used. Forexample, input signals received from a user may include an input inrelation to a chart to enter a trade order to an electronic exchange,the methods of which will be described below.

The operating system 306 is used to manage hardware and softwareresources of the client terminal 300. General functions of the operatingsystem 306 include, among others, processor management, memorymanagement, device management, storage management, as well asapplication interfaces and user interface management. Any type ofoperating system may be used to implement the present embodiments, andexamples of common operating systems include the Microsoft WINDOWSfamily operating systems, the UNIX family operating systems, or theMACINTOSH operating systems. However, those ordinarily skilled in theart will recognize that the added complexity of an operating system maynot be necessary to perform the functions described herein.

IV. Chart-Based Order Entry Examples

FIG. 4 is a block diagram 400 illustrating one example embodiment of anorder entry interface for use in relation to a chart. The block diagram400 includes a chart 402 displayed in relation to a price-based axis anda time-based axis. According to one example embodiment, the chart 402displays market data corresponding to a tradable object being traded atan electronic exchange, and units that are used in relation to theprice-based axis are based on prices that are used at an electronicexchange to trade the tradable object. It should be understood that thechart is dynamically updated as new market data is received for thetradable object from the electronic exchange so that the chart displayshistorical market data as well as current market data. It should beunderstood that many different market related parameters could bedisplayed via the chart 402, including the last traded price, the bestbid price, the best ask price, or others.

The diagram 400 also illustrates an order entry interface 404 displayedin relation to the chart 402. The order entry interface 404 illustratedin FIG. 4 takes a format of a wedge or pie-chart like interface having aplurality of selectable price-based objects that are divided into afirst set 406 corresponding to a first half of the interface 404 and asecond set 408 corresponding to a second half of the interface 404.According to the illustrated example embodiment, the interface objectsshown at 406 and 408 display an expanded view of price levels that aredetermined based on a location of the order entry interface 404 inrelation to the chart 402. More specifically, the first and secondportions 406 and 408 display an identical set of a plurality of pricelevels, with the left half 408 of the interface 404 representing bidprices and the right half 406 representing ask prices. It should beunderstood that a reverse configuration could be used as well, and thedisplayed price levels could be color-coded based on the user'spreferences. For example, blue could be used to color-code bid prices,and red could be used to color-code ask prices. However, differentcolors and configurations could be used as well. Additionally, while aring-like or pie-like structure is illustrated in relation to theinterface 404, it should be understood that many different shapes couldbe used as well such as any arc-shaped interfaces or an interface havingthe price objects positioned in relation to vertical or horizontalcolumns. Many different interfaces using different curvature angles arepossible as well.

Price levels displayed at 406 and 408 dynamically change based on alocation of the interface 404 in relation to the chart 402. According toone example embodiment, a cursor may be displayed at a center point ofthe order entry interface, such as shown at 406, and as the cursor ismoved along the chart, the position of the cursor at some point directlyon the chart 402 or off the chart 402 determines a set of prices thatare displayed via the interface 404. In the example embodiment of FIG.4, the interface 404 displays eight price levels in each half of theinterface 404. In such an embodiment, one of the objects close to thecenter of each half of the interface 402 may be used as a referenceprice object that corresponds to a price level that maps to a positionof a cursor at 410 in relation to the chart 402.

According to the example embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the price objectthat displays a price level of 510 is a reference price object, and thethree upper objects display three higher price levels, and the fourlower objects display four lower price levels. It should be understoodthat any price object could be configured to be a reference price objectand represent a price levels that corresponds to a location of thecursor in relation to the chart. Additionally, price levels displayed inrelation to the reference price object could be displayed in the reverseorder, with the prices lower than a price at the reference price objectbeing displayed in relation to the top price objects, and prices higherthan the price of the reference price object being displayed in thelower price objects, such as illustrated in relation to an order entryinterface 500 shown in FIG. 5. Also, while the prices displayed inrelation to the reference price object use a single increment pricevalue, different configurations using different increment values arepossible as well.

It should be understood that different configurations of the interface404 are possible as well, with any other price object than the centerobject of the interface 404 corresponding to the price that matches theposition of the cursor 410. Additionally, any other configuration couldbe used in relation to the prices surrounding the selected price, suchas, for example, displaying only lower price levels, higher pricelevels, or yet displaying a combination of higher and lower price levelsat some other locations than the locations shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5.Also, it should be understood that while each half 406 and 408 of theinterface 404 displays eight price levels, fewer or more price levelscould be displayed as well based on user's preferences or based on ahard-coded configuration. According to yet another example embodiment, asecond ring with additional price levels could be displayed as well.

As explained earlier, the order entry interface 404 tracks the movementof a user input device. When a user moves a cursor thus moving theinterface 404 in relation to the chart 402, the prices displayed via theinterface 404 dynamically change based on the location of the cursor inrelation to the chart 402. FIG. 4 illustrates a change in the displayedprice levels as the interface 404 has been moved to a new location, asshown at 410A, with the interface now shown at 404A. As shown inrelation to the interface 404A, the new location of the cursorcorresponds to the price level of 608, with lower and higher pricelevels displayed below and above the reference object of each half ofthe interface 404A, respectively. Also, as shown in relation to theinterface 404A, the location of the cursor does not correspond to anypoint on the chart 402. Regardless, the location of the cursor is mappedto a price level on the price axis.

According to one example embodiment, a user can freeze the pricesdisplayed in relation to the order entry interface 404 to enter tradeorders to buy or sell a tradable object for which data is displayed viathe chart 402. It should be understood that any predefined user inputcould freeze the prices. According to one example embodiment using amouse as a user input device, a user freezes the prices displayed viathe interface 404 by selecting and holding down one of the buttons ofthe mouse. Then, to enter an order, the user moves the cursor, with themouse button depressed down, to an interface object corresponding to adesired price. According to the example embodiment described earlierwhere the left half 408 of the interface 404 is a bid side, and theright half 406 is an ask side, a user may move the cursor to a pricelevel on the bid side 408 to place a buy order, and to a price level onthe ask side 406 to place a sell order. In the embodiment where thebutton down action freezes the price levels displayed via the interface404, a user could position the cursor at a desired price and release thepressed down button over an interface object corresponding to thedesired price to place a trade order to buy or sell at the desiredprice. In such an embodiment, a user may cancel an order entry processby simply releasing the mouse button outside any interface objectdisplayed via the interface 404. According to another exampleembodiment, a click-release mouse action could be first used in relationto a desired price level to freeze the interface 404, and then anotherclick-release action could be used in relation to the desired priceobject to place an order.

Additionally, as new data is received for display in relation to thechart 402, the chart will be scrolling to the left to allow for displayof new data points in relation to the chart 402. In one exampleembodiment, the interface 404 may scroll with the chart 402. To preventany price changes displayed via the interface 404 at the time when auser initiates an order, a user input action initiated an order entrycould freeze the price levels displayed via the interface 404 and mayalso prevent any automated chart rescaling for a time period until aninitiated order action is completed or an order action is cancelled.Different embodiments where the auto-scrolling feature is disabled arepossible as well.

It should be understood that different embodiments could also be usedfor order entry. For example, any predefined user action, such aselection of a specific key on a keyboard or a combination of keys mayfreeze price levels displayed via the interface 404. Then, once theprices displayed via the interface 404 freeze, a selection of a desiredprice level via one of the interface objects results in placing an orderto buy or sell order.

Additionally, a user may preset a default order quantity to be used inrelation to any order that is entered via the interface 404.Alternatively, a quantity interface could be displayed either inrelation to the interface 404 so that a user could selectively choose adesired quantity, or the interface 404 could be designed to allow a userselect a desired quantity, as shown in the next figure.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example order entry interface600 incorporating a quantity selection interface. The interface 600illustrates a number of interface objects corresponding to price levelsas was shown and described in relation to FIG. 4. Additionally, theinterface 600 includes a number of quantity selection objects positionedin the outer ring of the price objects corresponding to the bid and askside of the interface 600. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, thequantity objects displayed on the bid side, here the left side, may beused to set quantity values for buy orders. Then, the quantity objectsdisplayed on the ask side, here the right side, may be used to set aquantity for sell orders.

According to one example embodiment, a user can select a defaultquantity by simply clicking on a quantity object corresponding to thedesired quantity before initiating an order entry process. As shown inFIG. 6, the highlighted quantity objects correspond to defaultquantities set for buy and sell orders, with a quantity of 10 set forbuys and a quantity of 5 set for sells. According to one exampleembodiment, the quantity ring may rotate to align a default quantitywith a current position of a cursor in relation to one of the pricelevels displayed via the interface. For example, if a cursor hovers overthe price level of “408,” the quantity ring rotates such that thequantity of “5” is aligned with the price level of “408.” If the cursoris then moved to a price level of “406,” the outer quantity ring mayrotate again such that the quantity of “5” is aligned with the pricelevel of “406.”

It should be understood that while FIG. 6 illustrates five examples ofbuy and sell quantities, different quantities could also be used basedon the user's preferences. For example, a user may select a quantityobject to activate an interface that enables the user to change aquantity value for the selected quantity object or other quantityobjects. Also, while the interface 600 displays a separate set ofquantities for buy and sell orders, it should be understood that acommon set of quantity objects may be used as well to set quantities forboth buy or sell orders. Also, according to yet another exampleembodiment, only a single default quantity is displayed, or each priceis assigned to its own quantity value that is displayed in relation toeach price. Those skilled in the art will understand that many differentembodiments are possible as well.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating yet another example order entryinterface 600 that displays current market conditions at pricesdisplayed via the interface 700.

According to one example embodiment, in addition to enabling a user toenter orders at desired price levels selected based on a position of acursor in relation to a chart, the example order entry interface 700also allows for viewing current market conditions in relation to thedisplayed prices. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, market depth data isgraphically displayed in relation to some or all prices displayed viathe interface 700 depending on the current market activity correspondingto the tradable object in relation to one or more displayed pricelevels. According to one example embodiment, if one of the displayedprice levels corresponds to the inside market, an indicator is used toalert a user of the current location of the inside market. For example,the price levels corresponding to the inside market could behighlighted; however, different indicators could also be used.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7, current market depth data aredisplayed in relation to each price using bars, where each barrepresents a quantity pending at the price. It should be understood thatthe length of each bar may be scaled based on a predefined scale so thata user can easily view the relative quantity values pending at eachprice level. In addition to having the bars scaled, quantity values atmarket depth prices and inside market prices could be displayed inrelation to each bar. It should be understood that depending on theposition of the interface 700 in relation to a chart, if no quantitiesare available at a displayed price level, no bar would be displayed inrelation to such price level. Also, quantity bars corresponding to bidprices are displayed in relation to prices on the bid side portion ofthe interface, here the left side, and quantity bars corresponding toask prices are displayed in relation to prices on the ask side of theinterface, here the right side. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7,based on the position of the bars, a user can quickly determine that thecurrent inside market is at price levels 411 and 412, with the best bidprice at 411 and the best ask price at 412.

It should be understood that the bars illustrated in FIG. 7 may notnecessarily be radial with respect to each price object of theinterface. FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating yet another exampleorder entry interface 800 that displays current market conditionsaccording to another arrangement. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG.8, the market bars are aligned horizontally with the price objectsdisplayed via the interface.

While FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment related to displaying market datain relation the interface, it should be understood that different marketrelated data, such as total traded volume at each price level could bedisplayed as well. Additionally, the example embodiments could alsoincorporate trader-related data. For example, when the interface 700displays a price level at which a user has a pending working order, aworking order indicator is displayed in relation to the price level. Itshould be understood that many different formats of working orderindicators could be used including displaying an indicator directly nextto a price in an interface object or having a separate ring with workingorder objects that display more detailed working order data. Forexample, according to the example embodiment where bid and ask pricesare divided, any buy working order indicators could be displayed inrelation to bid price objects, and ask working order indicators could bedisplayed directly next to ask price objects. Different embodiments arepossible as well.

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that themethods described above may be embodied in a computer program productthat includes one or more computer readable media. For example, acomputer readable medium can include a readable memory device, such as ahard drive device, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, or a computer diskette, havingcomputer readable program code segments stored thereon. The computerreadable medium can also include a communications or transmissionmedium, such as, a bus or a communication link, either optical, wired orwireless having program code segments carried thereon as digital oranalog data signals.

The claims should not be read as limited to the described order orelements unless stated to that effect. Therefore, all embodiments thatcome within the scope and spirit of the following claims and equivalentsthereto are claimed as the invention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system including: a computing device,wherein the computing device is configured to display a movable orderentry interface, wherein the movable order entry interface includes aplurality of price objects corresponding to a plurality of price levels,wherein the movable order entry interface is positioned in relation to acursor, wherein the cursor is at a location on a chart, wherein thechart includes historical market data corresponding to a tradableobject, wherein the historical market data is mapped to a plurality ofvalues along a value axis, wherein the computing device is configured tomove the movable order entry interface to maintain the position of themovable order entry interface in relation to the cursor when the cursormoves to a new location on the chart, wherein the computing device isconfigured to determine the plurality of price levels based on the newlocation of the cursor, wherein the computing device is configured toreceive a first command to freeze determining the plurality of pricelevels based on a first user input, wherein the computing device isconfigured to receive a second command to select one of the frozenplurality of price levels based on a second user input, and wherein thecomputing device is configured to initiate placement of a trade orderbased on the selected price level.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein theplurality of price objects of the movable order entry interface isarranged in a circular shape.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein theplurality of price objects of the movable order entry interface isarranged in an arc shape.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein an anglecorresponding to the arc shape is adjustable.
 5. The system of claim 1,wherein the plurality of price objects of the movable order entryinterface is arranged to form a pie-chart interface.
 6. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the plurality of price objects of the movable orderentry interface is arranged based on a user-defined shape.
 7. The systemof claim 1, wherein the plurality of price objects of the movable orderentry interface includes a plurality of bid price objects and aplurality of ask price objects.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein theplurality of ask price objects correspond to different price levels inthe plurality of price levels than the plurality of bid price objects.9. The system of claim 7, wherein the trade order is an order to buywhen the selected price level corresponds to one of the plurality of bidprice objects.
 10. The system of claim 7, wherein the trade order is anorder to sell when the selected price level corresponds to one of theplurality of ask price objects.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein themovable order entry interface includes a plurality of quantity objectscorresponding to a plurality of quantities.
 12. The system of claim 11,wherein the computing device is configured to receive a third command toselect one of the plurality of quantity objects, wherein the trade orderis for a quantity based on the quantity corresponding to the selectedquantity object.
 13. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing deviceis configured to receive a default quantity, wherein the trade order isfor the default quantity.
 14. The system of claim 1, wherein thecomputing device is configured to receive a third command to move thecursor to one of the frozen plurality of price objects of the movableorder entry interface to select the price level.
 15. The system of claim1, wherein the first user input includes a selection of a key on akeyboard.
 16. The system of claim 1, wherein the first user inputincludes depressing a mouse button.
 17. The system of claim 16, whereinthe second user input includes releasing the mouse button.
 18. Thesystem of claim 16, wherein the second command to select the frozenprice level includes moving the cursor while the mouse button isdepressed to one of the frozen plurality of price objects and releasingthe mouse button to select the frozen price level, wherein placement ofthe trade order is initiated when the mouse button is released.
 19. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to displaymarket data in relation to the plurality of price objects of the movableorder entry interface.
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the marketdata includes current market depth for each of the plurality of pricelevels corresponding to the price objects.
 21. The system of claim 1,wherein the computing device is configured to display a working orderindicator in relation to one of the plurality of price objects, whereinthe working order indicator represents a working trade order at theprice level corresponding to the one of the plurality of price objects.22. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured todisplay traded volume in relation to at least one of the plurality ofprice objects.
 23. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing deviceis configured to update the historical market data as market data isreceived.
 24. The system of claim 23, wherein the computing device isconfigured to display a current highest bid price available for tradingthe tradable object.
 25. The system of claim 23, wherein the computingdevice is configured to display a current lowest ask price available fortrading the tradable object.